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Thursday, October 2, 2014

Jenn's Long Run Part I: Preparation

Tonight's training run: 20 miles.

TWENTY. MILES.

Okay. I have the option of doing eighteen if it's just not clicking for me. But I really want that twenty. If I can do it in four hours, I'll be happy. Then I'll have my longest run under my belt and I can being tapering for the Marine Corps Marathon.

I'll admit: I'm a little nervous. I've done twenty miles twice in the past but that was about a year ago and for some reason rather than improve I have actually gotten SLOWER over the past months. Sigh. But where there's a will, there's a way, right? And I have SO MUCH treadmill will. (Yeah, I'm doing it on the treadmill. I have my reasons.)

I have prepped as best I can. In my arsenal:

KT TAPE. My knee has been fine for awhile but I'm going to tape it anyway. And my hip has been bugging me a little lately, so I'm going to try taping that too. Hopefully that's just a product of being way overdue for new shoes and will go away.

Speaking of which...

NEW SNEAKERS. Look at them. LOOK AT THEM. How pretty are my new Brooks Ravenna 5s?! I've been using Ravennas for about a year and it's been working really well for me. Hopefully that keeps happening.

CLOTHES. I'm going to stop by Marshall's later today and see if I can't find some running pants or even a shirt with more pockets; my favorite running capris have none and I have a shirt with only one. Regardless, I will be using the clothes I intend to run in on the day - and Vaselining up ANY area that could potentially chafe under the lengthy friction conditions.

HYDRATION. In addition to my trusty 32 oz squeeze water bottle, I have a bottle of VitaCoco Sport, which is like what Gatorade would be if it got all its electrolytes from coconut water.

FUEL. Clif ShotBloks are my go-to. I have two packages to run through as needed.

MUSIC. In addition to my regular staples like Flogging Molly and Jukebox the Ghost, I've got TONS of Disney music to keep me going. Soundtracks for Wishes and IllumiNations and Festival of the Lion King help me pretend I'm living it up at Walt Disney World and not, y'know, running in a basement gym.

THE PROMISE OF LATER REWARDS. I will take a glorious shower. Then my roommate wants to go to the bar where we know the staff and they give us free beer. We will also eat fish tacos. Recovery FTW.

That's my tool kit - am I missing anything? How do you prep for a long run? Are you gonna wish me luck or what?